India's ISRO Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft leaves Earth's orbit Moon is up next
India's Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft has completed its orbits around the earth and is now heading towards the moon after it was successfully injected into the translunar orbit, the Indian Space Research Organisation said. "Chandrayaan-3 completes its orbits around the earth and heads towards the moon. A successful perigee-firing performed at ISTRAC, ISRO has injected the spacecraft into the translunar orbit," it said. "Next stop: the Moon. As it arrives at the moon, the Lunar-Orbit Insertion (LOI) is planned, " ISRO added in a tweet.
Translunar orbit injection is the process whereby the moon-bound spacecraft has escaped from orbiting the earth and is now following a path that would take it to the vicinity of the Moon. In other words, the spacecraft began its journey toward the Moon after leaving the Earth's orbit following the TLI maneuver, which placed it on a 'lunar transfer trajectory. 'ISRO said it would attempt a soft landing of the lander on the lunar surface. The Chandrayaan-3 mission to Moon was launched. The spacecraft comprises a propulsion module (weighing 2,148 kg), a lander (1,723.89 kg), and a rover (26 kg).
The main object of the mission is to land the lander on the lunar soil safely. Once it reaches the lunar orbit, the lander will get separated from the propulsion module and is expected to make a soft landing near the South Pole of the moon. The lander will descend to the moon from a height of about 100 km from the moon's surface. The soft landing is a tricky issue as it involves a series of complex maneuvers consisting of rough and fine braking.
Imaging of the landing site region prior to landing will be done for finding safe and hazard-free zones. Subsequent to the soft landing, the six-wheeled rover will roll out and carry out experiments on the lunar surface for a period of one lunar day.
